Sunday 1 July 2012 14.25 EDT
First published on Sunday 1 July 2012 14.25 EDT

Among the Italian fans at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev there's fervid adulation for their impish and mercurial No9, Mario Balotelli. Will the young Italian striker guide his team to the European Championship title?

With four minutes remaining until half-time, Xavi slides a typically precise throughball to Jordi Alba - the left-back - whose lightning run into the opposition half ends with a simple, sweeping shot into the bottom corner of the net ... 2-0 to Spain

Antonio di Natale spurns a wonderful chance to half the deficit when he fires straight at Iker Casiallas. The Spanish players thought the Italian was offside; luckily for them Casillas played to the whistle

The hopes of the Azzurri are surely shot now ... Having already made all of their substitutions, Thiago Motta, one of them, pulls his hamstring and the Italians can't replace him. They'll have to play the remaining 30 minutes with ten men

Naturally Spain are able to exploit the additional space. Fernando Torres scores soon after his introduction, then supplies a pass for Juan Mata, another sub, to prod home a fourth goal two minutes from time